The initial experiments were performed on mice. More research is needed to discover whether the symptoms also appear in humans.

“While this research is at the proof-of-concept stage, the identification of distinctive odor signatures may someday point the way to human biomarkers to identify Alzheimer’s at early stages,” Assistant Professor Dr. Daniel Wesson, from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, said.

In the UK, scientists are also working on a pill which could “slow down” the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, which could be available by 2025.

Speaking at University College London this week, Professor John Hardy said his predictions were based on the success of current drug trials.

Hardy is confident that over the next decade, methods of preventing or slowing down Alzheimer’s will reach the next level. He said current research places us in an “era of optimism,” predicting that “by 2050, such advances should be benefiting at least a million people a year in the UK.”

“All of us are excited about drug trials that are going on now,” Hardy said. “In the coming year, we will know if we are at the start of a new era of better treatments for slowing or stopping the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”